Until the End
by riddo123
Summary: Set after the death of Hammer  What happens when something life changing comes between Charlie and Brax. Can they stick by each other through these hard times, or will this mean the end for Home and Away's favourite couple?
1. Chapter 1

_**This is our second fan fiction, and it has absolutely nothing to do with the first one. We'll still be continuing with our original ('Love In Danger?') but we just thought we'd try something different, although it's still a Chax-focused story hehe. Hope you enjoy it **_

_**It takes place just after Charlie kills Hammer (as in the actual TV show).**_

**Charlies POV: **

I sit in the back seat of Watson's police car with a blanket around my shoulders, staring at the havoc all around me. Blood is still dripping from my face, a reminder of the kidnapping, and the events that transpired; everything tastes of salt and metal. I stare at the black body bag as it rolls passed the police car, soundlessly, knowing what – or rather who – lies beneath it; time seems to have broken, everything seems slower.

I am only broken out of my trance by a familiar voice – Watson. 'Charlie - Charlie - ' she says, stepping into my line of sight and hiding the body bag – and all the other carnage – from view.

I snap out of my train of thought, and reply with a monotonous, 'Yes?'

'Charlie, we need to take you to the hospital to get that head wound checked out.' Without really processing what she's saying, I nod.

'Please tell Ruby that I'm okay.'

Watson nods before ushering me inside the car properly. She closes the door and gets in the front. Before we drive away, I can't help looking out at the scene one last time. One thing catches my eye, and suddenly I really wish I hadn't looked out. Brax stands in the midst of it all, looking back at me, one familiar element in the chaos.

I lay now in the hospital bed, my head wound all patched up. Whatever drugs they've dosed me with have taken away the headache, and slowly but surely, things are starting to come back into focus. What I am waiting for now is the results of the MRI the doctors – specifically Sid – insisted I have, just to make sure no permanent damage was caused by the blow. I don't know whether time is still broken or whether Sid was just really quick with getting the results back, because before I know it, he has returned, a manila folder in hand, a serious look on his face. As he looks at me, his expression only becomes more serious, which makes me worry that perhaps there really is more damage than I thought there was.

My suspicion is all but confirmed by the first thing he says to me - 'Charlie...I have some bad news.'

**BRAXS POV: **

500 years later and the doctors finally believe me when I tell them that nothing's wrong with me, aside from the fractured wrist of course. I am finally let out of the emergency room, only so I can be escorted to the police station for questioning, where I'll undoubtedly spend another 500 years trying to convince the police that for once none of what happened was my doing. It was Hammer who'd tried to get to me, Hammer who'd brought the weapon, Hammer who'd tried to kill me before Charlie had –

Charlie. As if just thinking about her summoned her to me, I see her sitting in a hospital room not too far away. Ruby is in there with her, and unsurprisingly, neither of them look too happy. Charlie's eyes flick up, and she sees me. Ruby looks over her shoulder and half-smiles at me, almost sympathetically. I don't know whether or not Charlie would want to talk to me, but I have to talk to her.

'What are you doing?' one of the cops walking behind me asks.

'I'm going to talk to Sergeant Buckton, if that's alright?' I ask him. _Too bad if it's not alright._ Both of the cops look at me, neither of them seeming too impressed.

'Five minutes,' the second cop says sternly. They follow me like bad smells as I head towards the room.

As I come closer to the room, Ruby walks out. Hopefully it's because she wants to give us some privacy, and not because she's trying to avoid me.

'Hey, Brax,' Ruby says to me, sounding tired. 'I'm just going to go to the cafeteria to get some coffee – would you like anything to drink?'

'No thank you, Rubes,' I tell her, knowing that I won't have time to drink it, seeing as I have to get down to the police station. She smiles at me again and disappears; the cops wait just outside the doorway as I go inside.

'Hey,' I say as I enter. 'Are you alright?'

Charlie nods. 'I'm just waiting for my discharge papers now.' Her head is all bandaged up, and she looks withdrawn. She doesn't look alright to me.

'How's your head?'

'Fine.' I know when she's lying, but I won't pull her up on it.

'Charlie – I'm so sorry about today. I – '

'Save it, Brax,' she says dismissively. 'Okay? Let's just not talk about it.'

'Not talk about it? How can we just not talk about it?'

'It's simple really – we just don't talk to each other. At least not for a while.'

'So, you kill a man – ' she grimaces, ' – to save my life and you just don't want to talk about it?'

'No, not really.'

'Charlie, this is ridiculous! After everything that happened today you're still mad at me for – ' I stop, realising that getting angry about this isn't going to help our messed up situation. 'Charlie...even Hammer could see that what's going on here isn't something that we can just not talk about or ignore altogether. Okay? I won't ignore this anymore. Charlie I l – '

'I'm going up the coast for a few days,' she interrupts me, jumping down off of the bed. 'I need to get away from here, from all of this, and from you. I can't deal with this right now, Brax.'

'Charlie...'

'Where are those discharge papers?' She pushes past me and leaves the room without looking back.

**CHARLIES POV:**

It was hard enough telling Brax that I didn't want to talk to him, but it was even harder to tell Ruby that I am leaving town. As I thought she would, she offered to come with me, and while I would love to spend some time away with her, she has school to think about, and more than anything I need the time alone to clear my head.

My mind keeps drifting back to what Sid told me at the hospital. I guess it hasn't fully sunk in yet. I can't tell Ruby – not now, maybe not for a long while. She would just be so worried and she already has enough to worry about, especially with her HSC coming up. I decide that now, at least, is not the right time to tell anyone. I hope that the time away will give me time to come to terms with what's happened, and what's going to happen next. If it doesn't, then maybe I just won't tell anyone at all – what's the point of burdening people with the weight of something that you yourself cannot bare?


	2. Chapter 2

**Charlie's POV**

It takes me barely 2 hours to arrive at the beachside cottage in Beautone Bay; I've rented it for two weeks, and I just hope that it's enough time for me to gather my thoughts.

After unpacking my suitcase, I text Ruby to let her know that I have arrived safely and am – as far as she needs to know – okay. I then turn off my phone, so that I will not be disturbed.

I step out onto the back veranda and stare out at the blue ocean, which seems to be within arm's reach. My mind spins as it replays the events of the last few weeks – it is not the kidnapping nor the shooting, but the conversation I had with Sid right before I left that lingers longest in my mind. This, in turn, causes me to remember that Sid had scheduled me in to see a specialist at the Beautone Bay Hospital tomorrow. I'm still genuinely amazed that he was able to get me an appointment at such short notice.

As the sun slowly starts to fade, the night air becomes cooler and the ocean turns deep blue, almost black. I make myself a salad, get into my pyjamas and set an alarm on my phone – which I regrettably had to turn on for that brief moment – so that I am not late for the appointment tomorrow. Before I know it, I am snuggled up under the covers of my bed, slowly fading into a dream. Or rather a nightmare.

_Everything is happening in slow motion – I can hear my own heart pumping in my chest. Every police officer instinct in me kicks in but I can't bring myself to act on any of them, too afraid of what might happen to Brax if I do. Hammer is beating him senseless – I can feel every punch, every bit of pain, as if his blows were directed at me. Brax tries to fight back, but Hammer has his gun in hand. I lie uselessly on the ground, pushed back the first time I'd tried to intervene – and then suddenly the gun flies loose of Hammer's hand. In the next instant I feel as though I am watching from the sidelines as my arm starts to reach for the gun – it's like something else is driving me, and I can't regain control. I feel the weight of the gun in my hands, and I feel the eerily familiar tremors of gunpowder igniting as my finger pulls back on the trigger, sending forth a bullet, straight for Hammer. He and Brax both fall to the ground – and for a moment I think I've hit the wrong man. Oh God – Brax -_

Waking up the next morning before my alarm was odd, seeing as I've never really been a morning person. I guess the nerves over my appointment have gotten the best of me.

Waking up that extra hour earlier gives me time to go for a run along the beach. The change of scenery along the way is nice, although I have to laugh at the fact that in order to escape the Bay I've retreated to a different bay. At least there's no possibility that I will run into Brax here, or anyone else I know for that matter.

Before I know it, it's time to go to my appointment. I drive to Beautone Bay Hospital, and walk towards the reception desk, but the nerves get the better of me, and I say nothing, just stare.

"Hi... are you okay there sweetheart?" a nurse asks me, coming around from behind the reception desk; she places a hand on mine. I am snapped out of my trance, and get up the courage to reply to her.

"Uh... yeah, I'm here to see Dr Williamson – Dr Walker from Summer Bay organised my appointment, I'm um..." Thoughts and words begin to choke me. "I'm...supposed to start my first round of chemo today." The words, as painful to say as walking through fire, finally escape, and a stray tear falls down my face. I find myself wishing that Brax was here supporting me, telling me that everything will be okay, that we've been through so much already so there's no chance of me not surviving this – that the stage 3 bone cancer will go into remission. But these wishes are utterly ridiculous because I couldn't possibly tell him about this. He would be so worried. He doesn't need that. Neither does Ruby. She doesn't need to worry that she might lose her mum. I am not going to them through that. I can't.

My train of thought is interrupted when I hear my name being called. I look up to see a man in a white coat standing near me with a clipboard.

"Hi Charlie, my name is Dr Williamson," he says, "and we are ready for you now, if you would like to follow me?" With a wave of his arm he motions for me to follow him, as he starts to walk into one of the rooms.

"I am going to need you to change into this," he says as he hands me a hospital gown. "I'll give you some privacy, while I go get your medication."

The doctor leaves the room, and I take a deep breath. _Medication. _I can hardly believe what's happening. As I get changed, the agonisingly persistent thought - _God I wish Brax was here with me _– breaks through the walls of my mind and opens up the floodgates. More than one stray tear escapes this time.

It doesn't take long for the doctor to return.

"Okay Charlie, let me run through what Dr Walker has planned for your treatment. The chemotherapy is designed to shrink the primary tumour. You are going to have 3 rounds, which we are going to start today, and then once you have finished that, you will have surgery to remove the tumour, then another 3 rounds of chemo, to prevent the cancer from returning. Unfortunately, we won't know how much of the tumour we'll be able to remove until after these first three rounds. That is when we will be able to let you know how good your chances are. Do you understand all this Charlie?"

I nod unresponsively, as he continues to speak.

"Now you must know Charlie, that there can be a few side effects of the chemo, and they're all in this brochure for you to read when you go home, or while you're undergoing the treatment, if you'd rather." he says as he hands me the brochure. "You should also know that, with Ewing's Sarcoma, there is the chance that it's spread to other areas of your body, but hopefully we've caught it before it's had a chance to do that." He says nothing for a moment, as if he expects me to say something. But there are no words... "Okay Charlie, now we're ready to start."

I smile weakly, my nerves at an all time high, as he hooks me up to the chemotherapy. The drip in my arm makes me feel so cold and I get shivers. At this moment, I feel so alone.


	3. Chapter 3

**Charlie's POV:**

The first round of chemo was worse than I could have ever expected. I wonder if the information in the pamphlet Doctor Williamson gave me actually helps to prepare _anyone_ for the side-effects of the treatment, or whether I am just handling it worse than most.

Now back at the cottage, all I can do is collapse into bed and sleep. Even with a thick blanket over me I am freezing cold, and my stomach feels like it is doing summersaults. The urge to throw up hits me suddenly, and I jump out of bed to run to the bathroom. For a moment I feel as light as air, but then my legs fail me, and I collapse, nothing but dead weight, near the laundry. Luckily, there is an empty bucket nearby, but making use of it does little to relieve the debilitating nausea. As I lay on the floor, holding the bucket, I realise finally that I need help.

Once I have regained what little strength the treatment has left me with, I get up off the floor and reach for my phone, searching through the 'B' contacts. I linger over Brax's name, and I am tempted to call him, but I still don't feel like I am ready to tell him. Instead, I scroll back up and dial Bianca's number, hoping that she will answer me.

**Bianca's POV:**

I am at home with April and Ruby, when my phone rings. I answer it without checking the caller ID, assuming that it would be Irene or Liam calling from the city. I am shocked to hear who is on the other line.

"Bianca? It's Charlie," says my friend on the other end. She sounds breathless and exhausted, the exact opposite of how someone on a relaxing vacation should sound.

"Charlie?" I say into the phone, apparently a little too loudly, since both Ruby and April have turned their heads to stare at me with equally confused looks on their faces.

I step out of the room so that they can't hear my conversation. "Are you okay?" I say a little more softly.

"Bianca... I need your help," she begins to say to me, but then the phone goes silent.

"Charlie? Charlie, are you still there? Of course I'll help you; I just need to know what's going on!"

I hear Charlie sigh as she begins to speak again.

I am almost in tears as she finishes telling me about her cancer.

"Charlie, have you told Ruby? Have you told Brax?"

"I can't..."

"Charlie you need to tell them!" I try and make her see sense, but it is in vain.

"No Bianca!" she insists. "You have to keep this between you and me! Please, just... make up an excuse – don't tell them you're coming to see me. They can't know!" As she talks, her voice becomes weaker and weaker, and concern overcomes me. How can I ignore her wishes?

"Okay, okay, just calm down. I'll be there in about three hours okay! Just promise me you'll take care of yourself until I get there."

We say our goodbyes and hang up the phone. I walk back into the house to be bombarded with questions by April and, even more so, Ruby about whom I was talking to, whether it was Charlie and if it was what she wanted, if she was okay, etc. After just barely dodging their questions and uncomfortably denying it was Charlie, I make my way upstairs to pack my bag.

Pulling out my phone again, I dial Liam's number. After the fifth ring, he finally picks up. It's good to hear his voice, and I wish I was calling under more pleasant circumstances than to ask him to lie for me.

"Hey, Liam," I say.

"Bianca!" he sounds very pleased to hear from me, even though the last time we spoke was only a few hours ago.

"Liam, I just got a phone call from Charlie," I tell him, "and she's asked me to go and stay with her for a few days while she's in Beautone Bay."

"Why's she gone up there?" he asks me, and I realise he doesn't know anything about what's happened.

"Just because she needed to get away," I say. "But, I need you to tell anyone who asks that I've come to stay with you in the city."

"O – okay..." he sounds unsure. "Um...why?"

"Because..." I hate lying to him. "...Charlie thinks Ruby would be upset that she asked me to go and stay with her instead of her, so she just wants to keep it between us."

"I don't understand you girls, but alright."

I sigh, relieved. "Thank you. I'll call you tonight."

"Alright, love you babe." We hang up, and I go downstairs, my bag packed, preparing myself to lie again, this time to my sister, and the daughter of the girl who's undergoing treatment for a life-threatening illness.


	4. Chapter 4

**BIANCA'S POV**

Once I've finished packing my bag, I make my way downstairs, hoping for a quick dash from my room through the house and out to the car. But I know that Ruby and April will be there to intercept me, wanting me to answer their questions, and although I want to be able to do just that, to tell them everything I know, I also know that it isn't my place to do so. If Charlie doesn't want them to know, no matter how stupid I think keeping this a secret is, then I can't tell them. I get downstairs and am greeted by their naturally suspicious faces. They notice my bag and begin firing the questions I knew would come eventually.

"Who was on the phone? What has happened? Where are you going?" questions April, Ruby equally as interested.

"Look I know this looks really weird, but nothing is wrong I promise. That was just Liam on the phone. He is lonely in the city, and he wants me to come out and visit him for a bit."

I can see the look of uncertainty on both of their faces. They are unsure whether or not to believe me, so I continue trying to convince them.

"I'm just going to drive to the city, and stay with Liam for a few days."

"Why so suddenly though?" April asks, her inquisitive mind not letting up.

"Well, because I miss him too. We just both really miss each other, and I don't think we can be apart any longer, so it just makes sense for me to leave now. I'm not sure how long exactly I'm going to stay with him for, but I'll call you when I get there, okay?"

The look on their faces tells me that while they still have doubts, on some level they have finally believed the lie. I hug them both as we say our goodbyes, and head towards the car.

It took me longer than expected to reach Charlie's beach cottage in Beautone Bay, but I am finally here. I grab my bag from the backseat and head towards the front door, unsure of what condition I will find Charlie in. I knock on the door, but no one answers. It's not until about 5 lengthy, persistent knocks later that Charlie comes to the door. I realise once I see her that she probably wasn't doing anything that kept her from getting to or hearing the door right away – it literally took her that long just do _get_ to the door. There are dark, purple shadows under her eyes that could very well pass for bruises, her hair – which I've always been jealous of – is a dishevelled mess; she looks totally drawn out and exhausted, and not at all like the Charlie that left Summer Bay only 3 days earlier.

"Oh Charlie!" is all I'm able to say.

**CHARLIE'S POV:**

I struggle to get out of bed to answer the door to Bianca, but finally I get there. I know even before I get there that it's her – who else could it be? I'm almost embarrassed by how long it takes me to crawl (thankfully, not literally) from my bed to the door, and I feel just awful for keeping her waiting for so long.

"Oh Charlie!" is how Bianca greets me, her voice full of pity and alarm, and we hug as I let her into the house. Bianca puts her bags down in the spare room, goes into the kitchen to make us both a cup of tea, and grabs a blanket from my bedroom to put over me – somehow knowing that I was cold – , all before joining me on the sofa in the lounge room, where we sit and talk. I feel better already just having her here.


	5. Chapter 5

_**hey guys, we haven't updated in a while, so we decided to update to chapters tonight. I hope you're enjoying our story! If you have any suggestions feel free to pm us. Thanks to all the reviews, alerts and favourites! it means so much to us! xxx**_

_**Hope this chapter is good and that you enjoy it, please keep those reviews/alerts/favourites coming :)**_

**Charlie's POV:**

Having Bianca here with me has been such a help. I feel terrible burdening her with all this, especially when she is on school holidays, and now her holiday consists of tending to me, an invalid. What makes things worse is that I can't even entertain her, because I just haven't got the energy; the chemo just drains it out of me, and just when it feels like I'm getting it back, it's time for the next round. Because of me, we can't go for swims in the ocean that's just outside our doorstep, we can't go for walks on the beach, we can't go shopping or to a spa or anywhere even remotely fun. All I can do is sleep, while she, for whatever reason, sticks around to take care of me. Some friend I am.

It has been over a week since Bianca came to meet me, and it's time for my third round of chemo. She came to the second one, and that was bad enough, but for some reason she insists on coming with me again. She's probably already been having the worst week of her life...why is she so insistent on making it worse?

I'm snapped out of my thoughts when Bianca steps into my bedroom. "You ready to go Charlie?" she asks softly. I nod slightly and give her a weak smile. In my head, I'm nowhere near ready. Bianca helps me up and into the car. I feel utterly useless.

**Bianca's POV:**

Taking care of Charlie for this past week and a bit has been quite a handful, especially since she's so adamant that she doesn't need any help. I've tried several times, in vain, to convince her not to let her pride get in the way of her recovery. Nevertheless, I don't mind looking out for her; I know she'd do the same for me if the situation were reversed. It's obvious that she isn't handling the chemo as well as the doctor had hoped she would.

She's in the bathroom now, retching; it's a horrible, pain-filled sound, and I am overcome with pity. Charlie doesn't deserve this – no one does. I come in with a glass of water as well as a ginger remedy that Liam told me eases nausea. At first Charlie refuses to drink either, thinking there's no way she'll be able to keep it down, but after a few harsh words from me – I've learnt that I have to be persistent and sometimes mean in order to get through to her – she finally succumbs to her thirst. She manages to keep both drinks down.

After each round of chemotherapy, she's just deteriorated more and more; she's wasting slowly away, and it breaks my heart to see it. While she strongly disagrees, I am a firm believer that having her family here with her will help her more than I ever could on my own. I have tried, on several occasions, to talk to her about calling Ruby and Brax, but she refuses no matter how much I try to reason with her.

After seeing her now, and how frail she has become, I am determined to try again. Once I've helped her back into bed, I start on the sore topic.

"Charlie," I say, sitting down on the edge of the bed, "I know you don't want to hear this, but I really think you should have your surgery in Summer Bay." She starts to shake her head, slowly and weakly. "At least then you can be with your family."

"They don't need to know," she rasps.

"They _should_ know." I keep at it, desperately hoping that I will get through to her this time. "There are so many people back home that care about you – they'd all want to help you."

"I don't want their help."

"You need their help, Charlie!" My voice rises; she winces as if I've hurt her head. "Charlie, you're sick," I say delicately. "Very, very sick. And you need more support and friendship and _love _than I can give you."

"Then go – you don't have to stay."

I am a little hurt by this. "I want to stay. Because I'm your friend and I would never leave you to deal with this on your own. But Ruby, and even Leah and VJ and Irene – they're your family. And they would want to be there for you too. I know things aren't all that great between you right now, but I know that Brax would want to know too – he'd want to be there for you."

She sighs. "I don't want him – them," she corrects herself quickly, "to see me like this..." Her voice is so soft, it's almost inaudible.

"I know," I say, reaching out to grab her hand. She squeezes back, ever so gently.

"Okay..."

"What?"

"Okay. I'll go back to Summer Bay. I'll have the surgery there...and...and I'll tell them."

I smile at her, and she half smiles back at me. "That's a good choice, Charlie." I squeeze her hand tightly enough for the both of us.

**Ruby's POV:**

The sun is shining just outside the window. It's about 100 degrees outside – and I'm at home, yet again, just sitting at my desk studying on a Friday afternoon in the school holidays that could be much better spent down at the beach. It suffices to say that I am both surprised and exceptionally pleased when I hear a knock at the door. I get up excitedly to answer it, not caring who it is, just grateful for the smidgen of human contact. I just assume that it is Casey coming to save me from my HSC servitude. I swing the door wide open, already smiling, and am more than shocked to find Brax standing before me.

"Oh, hi Brax," I say, still smiling, though not as widely.

"Were you hoping I was someone else?" he asks with a smirk, apparently having noticed the decline in my own smile.

"Not _hoping_," I say. The time for small talk and friendly casualness has passed – as I look at him now, I can't help but be reminded that he is partially responsible for Charlie's departure. I pang of anger hits me, but I suppress it. He probably blames himself enough already for everything that happened. "What can I do for you? Charlie still hasn't come back from her trip yet, just so you know."

"No, I know." He sounds sad, despite his ever-present smirk. "Can we talk?" he asks as he walks past me into the lounge room. Obviously it was a rhetorical question.

"Watcha want to talk about?" I ask, following him into the lounge room. I already find him sitting on the couch, head in his hands.

"It's all my fault!" he cries, jumping right into it. "I did some stupid things – I pushed her away, and I know it's my fault she's gone. I know things won't be different when – _if_ – she comes back ... but I just ... I miss her so much Ruby!" I am startled by his outburst, to say the least. I've never seen this side to Brax before – he seems so vulnerable. "I just want to tell her that I'm sorry and that I love her more than anything in the world, but – " He stops himself. I wait for a moment, both because I have no idea what to say to him and because I don't know whether or not to expect another self-pitying outburst.

He looks as if he's about to cry, barely holding it together.

"It's okay Brax," I say finally, edging towards him. I don't know if I should sit down beside him or not... "She's coming home. You'll be able to tell her all those things," I say in a softer tone of voice. "We all make mistakes Brax, no one's perfect. Charlie certainly isn't, and I know that she loves you way too much not to forgive you for whatever you did. You just have to give her time."

"Yeah, yeah I guess you're right," he says, regaining composure. In a manner of seconds, it's as if nothing ever happened. He stands up, ready to head for the door, turning around for just one more second to face me. "Hey listen ruby... Thank you, for everything. I know I don't really deserve it, but you did it anyway. So, thank you!"

With that, he leaves out the way he came, leaving me to think if what I said was really true. Is Charlie coming back?

Just as I hear the door click shut, the phone starts to ring. Hooray – more human contact! Let's just hope that this is a little less dramatic and bizarre than that social interaction was. I pick the phone up off the receiver. "Hello?"

**Bianca's POV:**

We were all packed and ready to go, sitting in the car, when Charlie got a phone call. She was unsure on whether or not to answer, staring down at the caller ID for about 3 rings before finally deciding to answer it. It was Leah. They spoke for less than 5 minutes, but I knew something was wrong. Soon they were finished, and Charlie was looking at me with a new kind of sadness, an expression I don't think I'll ever be able to forget.

"Leah lost the baby," she says to me, her eyes becoming teary.

I am in disbelief. It's not long before Charlie and I are both crying. We both knew how much this pregnancy meant to Leah. After we finally pull ourselves together again, Charlie begins to speak.

"I've changed my mind," she says firmly. "I'm not telling anyone about my condition. Not now."

"Charlie – " I protest, thinking that perhaps she was just looking for an excuse to back out on her word. I know that's a horrible thing to think, given the circumstances.

"Everyone needs to be there for Leah. Some things are just more important than others."


	6. Chapter 6

**CHARLIE'S POV**

After a few long hours of driving, Bianca and I finally arrive at Summer Bay Hospital to visit Leah. Bianca thought we should at least drop our bags off at home first, but I disagreed; Leah needed to see us. Sickeningly, I then think to myself that maybe it's really me that needs to see her, to see someone other than myself in pain for a change. I shake the horrible thought away at once and speed up my step, as if I'm trying to get away from it as fast as possible.

Heading towards Leah's room we are stopped by Dr. Walker. My stomach flips – he's the last person – one of the last people – I want to see right now.

"Charlie, Bianca," he greets us, his smile so casual and friendly I think for a second that maybe he's actually just saying hello. "Listen, I know you're on your way to visit Leah, but Charlie, I was hoping I could talk to you for a second." Yeah, literally for a second did I think that.

"Oh, um..." Bianca puts a hand on my arm and smiles at me reassuringly.

"You go ahead," she says. "It's clearly important."

"Yeah, so is seeing Leah."

"So I'll go and see her. You speak to Sid." Before I can protest, she's already walked off, leaving me and Dr Walker alone.

"I'm sorry," he says, "but this is going to have to be kind of a long conversation..."

"Well can we find somewhere to sit down then? I'm a little tired." I can tell by his expression that's he's about to launch into some sympathetic and doctor-ish lecture on how cancer and its treatment can have that side-effect, so quickly I say, "From the drive down. You know."

"Of course," he says, and nothing more. He ushers me into the waiting room, where we sit down, before speaking again.

"Dr Williamson called me from Beautone Bay Hospital," he says. "I'm very glad you've decided to have your operation in Summer Bay. I think that, seeing as you will have your friends and family around to support you, the prognosis will look much better." I wonder if he knows Bianca's the only one I've told... "In saying that," he continues, "you should know that there are many risks to this type of surgery, especially when the chemo has turned out to be so harsh on your body. I was hoping you'd handle it better than you did." He clears his throat and moves on. "The good news is, the primary tumour has shrunk significantly since you began treatment. Dr Williamson and I both believe that there is a high chance of success that you will come out of this okay, Charlie. But we really won't know until we do the surgery. So here are some brochures about the type of surgery you will undergo next week." He hands them to me – more brochures which just skim over the details and tell you nothing substantial about the pain you will feel or that which you will inflict on your friends and family if you share your pain with them. I don't even look at them, I just set them down beside me.

"Is that all?" I ask him. He seems surprised by my comment.

"Charlie, I know this is a lot to deal with – "

"No, Sid, you don't," I say, standing up. The blood rushes to my head, and everything goes black for a second – I think that I am on the verge of collapsing, but I force myself to stay up. Breathless, I say, "You have no idea what it's like – I feel sick every second of every day. I feel weak, and useless, and out of breath – it's like I've been running non-stop for miles, but the truth is I haven't been able to go anywhere or do anything because I just don't have the _strength_. This...this _cancer_...what did I do to deserve having it?" For once in his life, Sid is rendered speechless. Good!

"Cancer?" a familiar voice echoes from behind me. I get a sinking feeling in my abdomen, and am suddenly painfully aware of my heartbeat. I turn around slowly, to see Ruby standing behind me, a cup of water now spilling out onto the floor at her feet.

"Ruby..."

"You have _cancer?_"

Suddenly, I am the one who is speechless.


	7. Chapter 7

_**Hey guys, sorry about the massively long wait for this next chapter, life has just been so crazy for both of us, and we couldn't meet up together to write, and sorry again that we left it on a cliffhanger. **_

_**Hope this chapter was worth the wait, and we'll try and update more often in the future.**  
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_**So here's the next chapter...**  
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_"Cancer?" a familiar voice echoes from behind me. I get a sinking feeling in my abdomen, and am suddenly painfully aware of my heartbeat. I turn around slowly, to see Ruby standing behind me, a cup of water now spilling out onto the floor at her feet._

_"Ruby..."_

_"You have cancer?"_

_Suddenly, I am the one who is speechless._

**CHARLIE'S POV**

"How could you not tell me?" Ruby asks, her voice almost a whisper. Something more than shock is blazing through in her facial expression. She seems totally stunned, and who could blame her?

"I was going to, I was just waiting – " I start to say, trying to be gentle. I honestly don't know what to say, but before I can figure that out, Ruby has already cut me off.

"Waiting?" she echoes, coming closer towards me. "Waiting for what? For when you were already dead?"

"_Ruby_." I am hurt. If only she knew how hard this has been for me, how hard this is only going to continue to be.

"Ah, Ruby," Sid interjects, "maybe you and I should go and have a talk," he suggests. "Perhaps now isn't the best time for this."

Ruby ignores Sid, still coming closer to me. "Charlie? How long have you known about this?" she asks me. "Since before you went away?" I say nothing, knowing that she will be gutted if I tell her the truth, but she just takes my silence as a yes anyway.

Nodding, she says, "So you went away with barely a goodbye, knowing that you might not make it back." Her voice is shaky as she says, "Are you dying?"

I hesitate, willing the right words to come to me, but what am I supposed to say to that? Once again, she seems to get her own answer through my silence, nodding in apparent understanding once again.

"Ruby, I'm not going to die," I try to reassure her, stepping forward and placing a hand on her arm. "I'm going to be fine. I've already had chemotherapy, and I'm scheduled in for surgery to remove – "

"What type of cancer is it?" she asks, cutting me off again.

I swallow hard, and think. "Bone cancer." At these words, she yanks her arm away from me, taking a step back.

"And you were just going to keep this to yourself..." Her voice breaks, and tears start streaming down her face. It always breaks my heart to see her cry, but it hurts twice as much knowing that I am the cause this time.

She turns and runs away.

"Ruby wait!" I call after her.

"Unlike you Charlie, I think it's better not to wait sometimes," Ruby says, her voice cold and harsh. When she wants to hurt, she knows exactly what to say. I want to go after her, but Sid has grabbed my arm and is holding me back.

"Charlie, leave her be," he says. "She just needs some time to come to terms with what she's just heard." Truth be told, I am too weak to chase after her anyway, so, with an effort, I decide to go and visit Leah, which is what I came here to do in the first place. I'll try talking to Ruby again later.

**RUBY'S POV**

So many thoughts are going through my head as I walk through the door. _How bad is the cancer? Is she really going to die? I can't lose her! She's my world! She's my mum!_

I crash onto the lounge and bawl my eyes out. Who knows how long I sat there crying for. Every time I stopped crying, something reminded me of Charlie's sickness, and I would cry again. Suddenly, I am snapped out of my thoughts by a knock at the door. I try to compose myself before answering the door. It takes all my strength to will myself to actually get up.

It's Brax. Fantastic.

"Brax... What do you want? I'm really not in the mood for conversation." I snap at him. I feel bad for being rude to him, but with the news of Charlie's sickness still rolling around in my head, I can't just pretend that I'm up for talking to him, especially when I know that he's just going to want to talk about her. I don't think I can just sit there and act as though everything's fine when it's not. Just thinking her name stings, so I can't imagine what hearing her name being spoken will feel like.

"Ruby, what's wrong? Why have you been crying?" he steps in out of the doorway, clearly concerned about me. Apparently I'm not doing as good a job at keeping my emotions hidden as I thought I was.

"Nothing, nothing...I'm, I'm perfectly fine, I just need you to leave." I try really hard not to let the tears that are forming in my eyes break through my willpower, which is the only thing holding them back.

"Ruby, please stop pretending, you don't have to be strong, just tell me what's wrong!" He ushers me to the lounge and we both sit. "Has Casey done something?"

Unable to control my emotions any longer, the tears start falling. "No, it's not Casey," I sob. "It's Charlie!" I blurt out. _Shut up Ruby, shut up Ruby, shut up Ruby_, my subconscious is telling me, but my heart won't listen!

"What... what about Charlie?" I can tell Brax is starting to panic; I can't back away from telling him now. It takes me a good minute to muster up the strength to hold myself together long enough to tell him.

"She's sick"

**CHARLIE'S POV**

I sit by Leah's bedside, chatting about all the gossip I missed while I was away. It's hard to pretend that I'm fine, that I feel nothing, that the room isn't spinning all around me and that I wouldn't willingly pass out from exhaustion if it weren't for her. Leah's usually so empathetic, but thankfully, this time, she doesn't seem to be able to tell that anything's the matter with me.

Our conversation is cut short by the sound of commotion just outside the door. At first it's just muffled voices in the distance, but then they start to sound familiar.

"Brax?" I say, turning to Leah. She seems just as confused as I feel. And that's when a distraught Brax came charging through the door, Ruby hot on his heels.

"Charlie!" Ruby cries. "I tried to stop him!"

"Charlie," Brax says, huffing and puffing as though he's just run a mile.

"What's going on?" I ask sheepishly as I stand up. I feel as though I already know the answer, but I don't want to hear it.

"Yes, I'd like to know that too," Leah says.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Brax asks, speaking directly to me.

"Tell you what?" I ask.

"That you're sick!" he yells. "That you're – " He seems to be struggling for words. I know how that feels. "That you've got cancer," he says finally, quietly, almost inaudibly.

"_What_?" Leah says.

"Ruby, you told him?" I demand.

"It just slipped out!" she says desperately. "I'm sorry!"

"Don't get mad at her," Brax says. "She's devastated – I'm devastated – how could you not tell us? Why would you keep this to yourself?"

He has no right coming in and speaking to me like this, like I owe him anything. "Gee, I don't know Brax, maybe because I was trying to avoid something like this."

"What did you expect Charlie?" he asks, his eyes wild and anxious.

"What's going on in here?" Sid enters the room, his face cross and wondrous.

"Charlie..." Leah says quietly. "Why didn't you say anything?" All their questions, all their concerns are just running through my mind at a thousand miles a minute. I can't make sense of any of it.

"Because this isn't just anybody's business!" I yell at nobody in particular. "This is my life! I didn't want to become the next big bit of gossip in town – I just...I..." I can feel my heart thumping against my ribcage. I become short of breath, and I am barely aware of the weight of my head on my shoulders.

"Charlie..." Brax says, his voice no longer distressed, but still full of concern.

The room starts to blur. I feel weightless, and suddenly the floor slips out from underneath me.

"Charlie!" Brax cries again, dashing forward. I feel his arms go around me before I can hit the floor. I hear Ruby call my name as well, hear Leah's cries of alarm, but none of their words come through clearly when all I can really hear is the sound of my own blood rushing through my head. I feel Sid examining me; he too is calling out my name, asking me things that I just don't know the answer to. I feel Brax's hand on my face, pushing my hair out of my eyes.

His face is the last thing I see before the world goes black.


	8. Chapter 8

**Sorry about making you guys wait so long for this chapter, especially when we left the story on a cliffhanger last time. This was supposed to be uploaded last night, but we couldn't login. Hope you guys are still enjoying our story, please review, we love hearing your opinions :) **

**Brax's POV:**

I start to panic when I see that Charlie has lost consciousness. All the worst possible thoughts run through my mind as I hold her in my arms – she's so limp and still, so lifeless. Sid is quick to get to her; he checks her pulse and tries to get her to start breathing again, but he doesn't seem to be having much success. Soon enough nurses and other doctors have joined us, and I help as they lift Charlie onto a gurney. I panic as they begin to role her away, putting a tube down her throat as they go. Leah is crying out, trying to get out of bed, but nurses hold her back.

But they're not going to hold me back.

"Where are you taking her?" I yell at the nurses, trailing after them all. "Sid? What's going on?"

"Brax, you need to get back," he says, as they go through a set of theatre doors. "You're not allowed in here."

"Just tell me what's happening!"

"We don't know, Brax," he says calmly. How can he be so calm when Charlie is barely breathing? "I can't explain to you what I don't know. For some reason, she's unable to breathe on her own, which is the likely cause of her collapse. That's why we're taking her up to surgery right now – she might die if we don't. So please..." He pushes me back. _She might die. _These three words ring out inside my head, and I find myself physically unable to walk anymore. Leaving me in my stupor, Sid follows after Charlie and the train of nurses leading her to the operating room.

I hadn't even noticed Ruby following after me. She is distraught, and rightly so. I take her into my arms, so we can both cry.

Hours pass, and we're still waiting for news on Charlie. Every half hour or so, Ruby and I take turns in harassing whoever is sitting behind the nurse's station, beginning them for any news on Charlie, but none of them ever know anything, and if they do, they refuse to tell us anything.

Just as I am about to get up for what seems like the hundredth time, Ruby spies Sid walking towards us with a serious look on his face. Ruby and I quickly get up and make our way towards him.

"Is she okay? Sid? Please tell me she's okay?" Ruby's asks, tears once again streaming down her face, after having only just gotten a hold of herself.

Sid pauses a moment before speaking,

"It's not good news I'm afraid," he says gloomily. I feel my stomach drop, and I wonder if Ruby's did the same thing. "We found several masses in Charlie's lungs during the surgery. They're undoubtedly cancerous, and were what was preventing her from breathing earlier."

"So...the cancer's spread?" Ruby inquires.

Sid nods. "We were able to remove the tumours, but she will need to undergo more chemotherapy, treatment that will be more intense than what she had previously to prevent any more spread."

"But, if she was on it before..." Ruby stammers, staring up at the fluorescent lights on the ceiling. I had told her earlier that looking up at lights or something in the distance had always helped me suppress my tears; the trick seems to be working for her as well. "...shouldn't it have stopped it from spreading? I mean, who's to say that it will work this time?"

"We have to be positive," Sid says. "Like I said, this course will be stronger and more intense than her previous dosage. We don't know where else the cancer has spread to – it could have moved on to any number of places as well as her lungs. Our main priority is ensuring that it doesn't spread any further."

Ruby and I struggle to take in all this information. I can't believe we're going through this. I can't believe that SHE is going through this! I can't lose her! I love her!

"Can we see her?" Ruby asks Sid.

"Of course, she's still asleep, and because of the anaesthetic, she'll probably be asleep for a while longer." _As long as she's not in pain, that's all that matters._

Sid shows us to her room before leaving us alone. Charlie is connected to about a hundred different machines and wires. To see her so broken, so worn down...It's heartbreaking.

I walk over to her side, grab her tiny hand in mine, and kiss it, as tears slowly start to slide down my face.


	9. Chapter 9

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**Here's the next chapter, ENJOY :) and please review! xxx**

**Charlie's POV:**

I feel a strange burning sensation as slowly I begin to open my eyes. For a split second I forget where I am and what has been happening. I scan the room, and see Brax sitting beside my bed with my hand in his, asleep in the chair. His breathing is steady; he looks oddly young and vulnerable. As I glance further around the room, I see Ruby asleep on the lounge in the far corner, a rug pulled up to her shoulders.

I give Brax's hand a little squeeze, stroking the area around his knuckles with my thumb, and within seconds he is awake, looking at me.

"Hey you," I say, surprised at how weak and croaky my voice sounds. I could certainly use a drink of water right about now.

"Hey beautiful," he answers, wearing that beautiful smile I do so love. He laces his callused fingers with mine; my hand feels so small in his.

"What happened?" I ask, my voice sounding the slightest bit stronger. The smile on his face quickly fades as he takes a moment to inhale a breath before he speaks. I know what he has to tell me can't be good.

"You collapsed," he says. "Sid told us that...the cancer's spread to your lungs." My heart skips an agonizing beat. I can see how hard it is for Brax to tell me this. I squeeze his hand more tightly as he continues. He tells me about my operation, how they removed as many of the tumours as they could, but that it still may not have been enough. He also tells me that the cancer may have spread elsewhere, as well as to my lungs. But, perhaps worst of all, he tells me this - "You're going to have to go through a stronger course of chemo."

Tears start to form in my eyes; I struggle to hold them back. All the strength I seem to have is going into holding on to Brax's hand, and it frustrates me at how weak I've apparently become. I can't believe after all the chemo I've already had that it's still getting worse. All that pain, all the stress I put on Bianca...it's all been for nothing. Brax, noticing the tears, hurries to the side of me, wrapping his arms around me and kissing the top of my head.

Sitting beside me on the bed, he says, "You are going to get through this Charlie! I know you are. Everything's going to be okay. I'll be here for you for every step of the way. I love you." I bury my face in the crook of his neck, taking in the smell of him – he smells like interrupted sleep, of salt and sea water and remnants of aftershave, and _Brax. _I never realised how much I would miss this smell, how much I've missed _him._ Having him here now makes me wish I'd told him sooner. It makes me wish a lot of things were different, had _been_ different, especially in the last few weeks. As he holds me now, though, it's like none of the bad stuff ever happened, like nothing's changed...

We're interrupted suddenly by Ruby waking up. "Charlie!" she yells, jumping off the lounge and onto the bed to join our embrace. I feel Brax pull away ever so slightly, giving Ruby some room, but he doesn't let go. I giggle at her interference while Brax look on adoringly. It's a side of him I can't say I've ever seen before. "I'm so glad you're awake! We were all so worried about you!"

"Ruby I'm – " We are interrupted a second time by Sid and a nurse walking into the room. Kissing me on the forehead, Brax detaches his arm from around my shoulders, and both he and Ruby return to their previous seats, as Sid starts speaking.

"Okay Charlie, I'm glad to see you're awake," he says with a smile, the kind of smile no ordinary doctor would wear; this smile comes from friendship more than from professional courtesy. "How long have you been awake for?"

"Um...I just woke up...about five minutes ago," I say, my voice still painfully croaky. The nurse gets to work on pouring me a cup of water from the pink jug; I am grateful as she hands it to me.

"Well, your vitals look good, your heart rate and blood pressure aren't too far off normal...Unfortunately, I do have some bad news..."

"It's okay," I say, my voice noticeably clearer after finishing the whole cup of water at once. "Brax already filled me in..."

"Ah..." He gives a flitting glance to Brax, as if he shouldn't have said anything to me. "Well then, if you're ready for it, it's time to start your next round of chemo." I want to tell him that I'll never be ready, but instead I just nod. What's the point in fighting this? "The side effects of this strength of chemo can tend to be worse than the ones that occurred with the last rounds, and since you had such a bad reaction last time, we are going to have to keep a close eye on you."

_Great_. I am filled with overwhelming dread. Deep inside I am really worried about proceeding with the chemo. The side effects that I suffered last time were quite severe; I just don't know if I can endure all that again, only worse. A million thoughts of what could happen this time are running through my head.

Hoping that my fear doesn't show, I slowly nod, and Sid proceeds to administer the first hellish dosage.


	10. Chapter 10

**BRAX'S POV**

"Easy, easy," I say, as I usher Charlie through the front door. It's been a week since she started the second round of chemo – it's supposed to be stronger and more effective than the dosages she was having to begin with. Bianca told me those were horrible, but she also told me that they had nothing on the ones Charlie's on now. They take all the strength out of her, drain all her energy – she's unable to do anything, unable to get out of bed or do anything really on her own, and I know how much she hates having to rely on everyone.

It's obvious to see that Ruby isn't taking it well either. She is scared at the thought of losing her mum. I wish there was more I could to help her, to help them both. I wish I could take all the cancer out of Charlie and put it into me. She doesn't deserve this at all. I'm the one who has done all these bad things in my life; it should be me in that bed.

I slowly ease Charlie onto her bed. I had hoped that she would let me carry her from the car to her bed, but she insisted on doing it herself, and now all her energy was gone.

"Do you need anything?" I ask her, pulling the duvet up over her shivering body.

"No… thanks, I think I might just…" she pauses a moment to regain her breath, I feel so terribly for her, "…go to sleep." Her eyelids flutter shut; I can tell she is fighting to stay awake, and that she's losing that fight. There are dark shadows under her eyes, but even these can't stain her beautiful face. _My Sleeping Beauty_…

"Hey, Charlie, I brought you some – " I whip around to see Leah entering the room, carrying a tea tray in her hands. I shush her as quickly as I can, not wanting anything to disturb Charlie from her much needed rest.

"Sorry," Leah whispers. She puts the tea tray down gently on the bedside table. Charlie doesn't stir. "Brax…" Leah says then. She forces me to draw my eyes away from Charlie to look at her. "Why don't you come and have something to eat," she suggests.

"No, no I need to stay with Charlie," I protest.

"No, Brax, you need to take care of yourself," Leah replies. "I bet Charlie wouldn't be happy if she knew you hadn't slept in days, and how long's it been since you've eaten?"

I'll never admit it to her, but I can't remember when I last ate. Food isn't really a priority for me at the moment.

"Come on," Leah urges. She places a hand on my shoulder, and reluctantly I go with her out of the room. I haven't left Charlie's side for any reason for the past week. Now that she's home though, safe in her bed, where nothing bad can possibly happen to her, I feel I can spare for five minutes.


	11. Chapter 11

******Hey guys thanks for the continued support with this story, your reviews have been so kind! please tell us what you think about this next chapter :)  
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**Brax's POV:**

It's been a little over 4 months since Charlie started her second round of her chemo – her dosage had eventually been reduced from a small session a day to just 2, although rather aggressive, sessions a week, but in the back of my mind, I still think that this has been too much for her. Today we are going to find out whether all Charlie's suffering has been worth it. It is already 12 o' clock, and we _were_ going to go to the hospital to receive the test results from Dr Walker at our 12:30 appointment.

Only problem is Charlie is still asleep.

I didn't want to force her to wake up, but I'm left with no choice now. I hurry into her room – which has really become more like _our room_ in the last few months – and see her sleeping peacefully, her face buried in the covers. I walk over to her and touch her hair lightly whilst whispering her name. Slowly I saw her eyes flutter open, her eyelids bruised with exhaustion.

"Hey beautiful," I say to her, unable to stop myself from smiling – without even having a mirror in front of me, I know that this particular smile is what Charlie would call my 'cheeky smile'.

"Hi," she says faintly, still half asleep.

"You gotta get up; you've got an appointment at the hospital in half an hour."

She sighs as she reluctantly pulls the covers off, forcing herself out of bed. She must have gotten up too quickly because the moment she stands up, she starts to collapse back onto the bed.

"Woah, woah, I got you," I assure her, catching her before she fell. I will never let her fall. "Are you okay?" I ask, looking into her beautiful brown eyes. We are standing closer to each other than I realised; there's barely an inch between us.

"Yeah, I'm okay," she says, and I can't tell if she's lying. We stand there for a lingering moment, just staring into each other's eyes, while I still had a hold of her. "You can let go of me now," she says, giggling. I haven't heard her laugh like that in a long time.

**CHARLIE'S POV**

There wasn't even any need for Brax and I to rush to the hospital like we did. Dr Walker's schedule was delayed by an hour because of a serious car accident out on the highway earlier in the day. All I could think of at the time was how, were I well enough to be at work, I would have been one of the first officers on the scene of that accident. But now that we are inside Sid's office, and he is sitting at his desk with a manila folder full of my records and my results and who knows what else, all I can think of is whether or not the chemo has been well worth the suffering, whether or not my cancer's gone, whether or not someday soon I'll actually be able to go back to work and once again be the first officer on the scene of a fatal car accident.

"So, Doc," Brax says, breaking the tense silence in the room. "Did it work? Is Charlie going to be okay?"

Even with Brax by my side, I can't quell the butterflies in my stomach. I haven't felt so nervous in as long as I can remember. Strangely, I am thankful that I actually have the energy to _be _nervous. Lately I haven't really had the energy to feel anything other than ill.

"Well, I have the results of your body scans here Charlie," Sid says, examining a piece of paper from within the folder. "As you know, with a round of chemotherapy as intense as yours has been, we would be expecting to see a marked improvement in your health since the last time we saw each other."

"I guess it's kind of hard to judge how well a person is when the thing that's supposed to be making them better is actually just making them feel worse," I say, knowing how depressing I sound, but unable to stop myself. Words cannot describe how much I hate the way the chemo makes me feel, how much I hate myself for being such a burden on everybody because of it. If it didn't do its job properly, then I don't know whether or not I could handle any more, or even take the news that it hadn't worked.

"Yes, I suppose it is..." Sid says, meeting my words with an equally glum tone of voice. My heart sinks – his expression is an outward reflection of the way I'm feeling inside. I recognise it from the mirror. Of course, it's a face I would only show myself when no one else was around, but still I've seen it so often recently, I would recognise it on anyone else's face in a heartbeat.

"Sid," I say, my voice low. I know what he has to say is not going to be good. "What is it?"

"Yeah, don't keep us on our toes here, Doc," Brax says. For the first time, I'm wishing that he hadn't come with me. He's been so good to me through all of this, and has never once complained, not even when I was at my worst. He doesn't need to hear any bad news. But if I asked him to leave, I know he wouldn't...

"Your body scans haven't shown the type of improvement in your condition that we would like to have seen after four months of intense chemotherapy," he says.

"What does that mean?" Brax asks.

I already know what it means.

"As you know, we removed as many of the tumours as we could from your lungs during your surgery 16 weeks ago," he says. "And at the time, we couldn't get a clear enough picture to see whether or not the cancer had spread anywhere else. This time though..." He takes one last look at the piece of paper he was scrutinising earlier, sighing before he continues with what he was saying. "The MRI's have shown that there are tumours in several other parts of your body. There's one on your liver, several in your upper arms, some along your spine...and they've reappeared in your lungs. Charlie...thus far...the treatment hasn't worked."

He was only telling me what I had already worked out the moment I saw the look in his eyes.

"You're joking, right?" Brax says. His tone of voice has changed from hopeful and expectant to downright angry, as if this is somehow Sid's fault.

"Brax – "

"No, Sid!" Brax goes on, getting up out of his chair. I want to reach out to him, to tell him that it'll be okay, but I know it won't be, so what's the point? "You said that this would work! You said that this would help to get her better!"

"What I _said_ was that – "

"Do you have any idea what Charlie's been through in the past four months? It's been _hell_ for her Sid! And now you're telling her that it's all been for nothing anyway?"

Brax looks to me now. "Charlie, in situations like this, there are two courses of action we can take."

Part of my feels like crying. Part of me feels like screaming. Most of me wants to die. But I don't let that show on the outside.

"Yes, Sid?" I say, suppressing everything, for whose benefit, I'm not sure.

"We can either continue with the chemotherapy – in some patients, it just takes a little bit longer for the treatment to become effective. We can give it to you in stronger doses, or – "

"What's the second option?" Brax says, angrily cutting him off. He's standing on the other side of the room, as far away from Sid and me as possible, and yet I can still feel the fury radiating off of him.

Sid gives me a solemn look. "Alternatively..." He hesitates. "Sometimes the patient chooses not to proceed with any more treatment. And when that happens, all we can do is try to make them as comfortable as possible."

"_Comfortable?_" Brax echoes, his voice quiet but full of obvious disbelief.

"The prognosis of Ewing's Sarcoma varies depending on how quickly the cancer was found, the age of the patient, how well they responded to treatment, and so on. Charlie, the treatment has not worked for you so far, and even with further treatment, there's only a very small percent chance that you'll make it out of this."

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	12. Chapter 12

**GUYS WE ARE SO SO SO SO SORRY ABOUT HOW LONG IT HAS BEEN SINCE OUR LAST UPLOAD! WE ARE REALLY LETTING YOU AMAZING GUYS DOWN! ANYWAY, HERES THE NEXT CHAPTER, PLEASE BARE WITH US AND KEEP READING, AND PLEASE REVIEW, WE LOVE YOUR FEEDBACK! I PROMISE THAT YOU WILL NOT HAVE TO WAIT FOR THE NEXT UPDATE. :) XXX**

**Charlie's POV**

It has been only an hour since our chat with Sid at the hospital. He sent me home to consider my options.

In my mind though, there is nothing to consider.

I can't go through this anymore. My body clearly isn't coping at all, the real me is gone. An exhausted, broken invalid stands in her place, sucking the life out of everyone around her. I don't want to drag this out any longer.

Brax drove Ruby and I to his place to discuss the situation. In the car ride over, it had become apparent that the two of them were still somewhat optimistic that with more chemo I was going to survive. If I choose to continue, they will think that I am as optimistic as they are, and will be filled with the false hope that everything is going to be okay, when I _know_ that no matter what course of action I choose to take it won't be.

I really don't want to have to discuss this with them, because I know that they will not see it my way. They need to say goodbye now, while they have the chance.

Brax had insisted on carrying me from the car to his bed so I could lay down while we talked. But I refused to succumb to my ongoing exhaustion – I sat upright, leaning against the pillows. Ruby sits at my feet, legs crossed, eyes wide with questioning and hope. Brax has been moving about the room ever since he set me down, never saying a word, not quite sure what to do with himself. One second he'd lean against a wall, then the next he'd be pacing back and forth at the foot of the bed.

I knew I was going to have to start this conversation. This horrible, impossible conversation.

"I'm not having any more chemo," I say softly, knowing the reaction I will get. Immediately Brax stops pacing; he simply stares at me, a mixture of shock and hurt blatant on his face. Ruby's eyes begin to glass over, all the hope that had been shining through before totally disappears from them, and soon tears are dripping down her cheeks.

"No! No way Charlie!" Brax yells, waving his arm for emphasis, his voice shaking like he's trying to hold back his own tears. "This stronger strain of chemo could save you! You can't give up now, we've come too far!"

"Brax, that's what they said about the last round of chemo," I reply, trying desperately to keep it together, even though I'm falling apart on the inside. "It's just not working. I think you just have to accept the fact that..." I pause, inhaling slowly. This will be the first time any of us have said it out loud. "...I am going to die."

He clenches his eyes shut, and I know there are tears behind them. "No," he protests. "Nah. No way." He shakes his head and starts pacing back and forth again, refusing to look at me.

"I don't want to go through it again for nothing. It's so painful, and not just for me. I don't want to keep being such a burden on all of you."

"What would be painful for us, Charlie, is watching you _die_," Brax says through gritted teeth, keeping his voice low.

"I just want to spend the rest of my life with the people I love, with _you,_" I say, looking straight at Brax, "and with my beautiful daughter." I turn now to look at Ruby, taking her hand in mine as her face becomes totally flooded with tears. She is still yet to say anything.

"Rubes?" I squeeze her hand as tightly as possible. She doesn't squeeze back. "Ruby are you okay sweetheart?" I ask. Stupid question. Of course she's not. Her mother is dying. Who could possibly be okay with that?

"I don't want to lose you Charlie! I love you too much! What am I going to do without you?" she starts crying uncontrollably now. I say nothing, just pull her forward to embrace her in a hug. She cries on my shoulder, and I am barely able to keep it together myself. A rogue tear slips down my cheek.

"You are a strong, amazing, beautiful girl! You will be fine without me," I whisper into her ear. "You have wonderful friends, you'll always have Leah, and Morag, and Brax, so many people who love you like I do who will look after you when I'm gone."

Suddenly she withdraws from my embrace, wiping her eyes with the backs of her hands. "Maybe," she says, sniffling, "but they won't be _you._" With that, she hops off the bed and leaves the room in a hurry, slamming the door shut behind her.

I look up at Brax, who is bending over to lean on the wood at the end of the bed frame. He turns his head up to look at me, his eyes pleading and full of pain. It's a look that shatters my heart.

"Do you think – "

"Charlie," he cuts me off, "please don't do this! You're my everything! After everything that's happened, after all we've been through...I _can't_ lose you. I only just got you back! I love you!" Tears start to fall down his face, and once again he turns his head away from me. Mustering up all my strength, I crawl down to the end of the bed and kneel just before him.

Taking his head in my hands, I press our foreheads together. "I love you too, do you hear me? And it's because I love you that I have to do this. We have to accept the inevitable. I'm dying. I can either go out in pain, or I can go out having loved you with all of my being...Please Brax, try to understand...You have to let me do this."

He says nothing for a while, eventually flicking his eyes up to look dead into my own. He covers my hands, still on his cheeks, with his, and pulls them away, never letting them go though. He moves to sit beside me on the bed.

"Charlie, you are the love of my life," he says. "I have never loved anyone the way I love you, and I never will again. You're it. My heart and my soul belong to you – they have since the moment I first met you. That's why I can't bear to lose you, because losing you would mean losing a part of myself, and I don't care if that's selfish."

I can't stop myself from crying anymore.

"Brax..."

"One of the things I've always loved about you is how stubborn you are," he continues. "So, even though it kills me to admit it, I know that there's no changing your mind." All of a sudden he gets up, letting go of my hands and moving to stand across the other side of the room, before the dresser. He opens the drawer slightly, keeping his back to me. I...I understand you feel like you can't go through anymore chemo."

"I can't – "

"Let me finish," he says. I shut up. "I understand that, so you need to compromise with me here, and understand something for me."

"What?" I ask, wondering what impossible compromise he could possibly have in mind. He turns around, now holding something in his hand.

"Just like you don't want to live the rest of your life in pain, I don't want to live the rest of my life without ever having been married to you."

I am literally lost for words. My throat catches and I'm pretty sure my heart stopped beating momentarily.

"Brax...are – are you saying – "

"I'm saying, Charlie Buckton..." He gets down on bended knee, a smile playing at the corner of his lips. He stares up at me with those big, beautiful eyes of his glimmering as brightly as the diamond atop the ring he holds out to me, and says, "Marry me. Please?"

**Sorry bout the cliff hanger, please review! :) xx**


	13. Chapter 13

**Ruby's POV**

"That colour looks amazing on your Rubes," Leah says to me, although I barely hear her. I'm not even really paying attention as the shop assistant rushes around me, smoothing out my dress as I stand like a statue atop a small pedestal. We've visited 5 dress shops already, and I am tired, and not just from all the shopping.

I'm tired of pretending that I am okay with this, that I support Charlie's decision to devote herself so wholly to someone when she's not even going to be around long enough to fulfil the promises she's going to make to him in front of the priest. A woman's wedding day is supposed to be one of the happiest moments of her life, it's supposed to mark the beginning of a whole new life for her – but for Charlie, all it will be commemorating is the end of her's, because she's not willing to fight anymore.

"Ruby?" Leah's voice breaks through my reverie, startling me out of my thoughts and back to reality. "Did you hear anything I just said?" She asks, as I stare at her incredulously.

"No, I um...I must've zoned out," I say. I looked straight ahead of me, at the figure staring back at me from the mirror. She should be the image of happiness and joy, as she stands there in a beautiful coral-coloured bridesmaid's dress, but she's not. She's a reflection of sorrow and anger and disappointment.

"Are you okay?" she asks me. "You've been zoned out all day practically." I take a long hard look at her: she's standing on her own pedestal, wearing a white and pink dress that falls just below her knees and hangs low on her back. It's beautiful against her skin tone, but ugly in what it represents, just as my dress is. How can she even ask me if I am okay? What kind of a question is that at a time like this?

"No, Leah, I'm not," I say, stepping off the pedestal, ignoring the shop assistant's disgruntled sigh as I do so. "In fact, I'm the opposite of okay. But I have to pretend that I am okay for the sake of my dying mother because that's exactly it – she's dying. She's dying, and instead of trying to do something about it she's getting married! I mean, what is the point of marrying someone til death do you part when you know you're dying anyway? Why put everyone through the insanity of pretending that everything is happy and fine and wonderful when that couldn't be farther from the truth?"

I am finally out of breath, and Leah is glaring at me in bewilderment. Actually, she's not really glaring at me, rather looking past me. I turn around, following her gaze, and see Charlie standing in the doorway of the fitting room, another couple of dresses hanging over her arms.

"Is that really how you feel?" she asks, a look of hurt in her eyes. "Do you really hate the idea of me getting married that much?"

I don't know what to say. Having words spill out of my mouth uncontrollably one minute and then not come out at all the next is my mind's idea of a cruel joke. A sick, sadistic joke. The shop assistant clears her throat – I had completely forgotten she was even there – and moves to take the dresses from Charlie, before leaving the room altogether.

"Charlie, I'm sorry," I say. What else can I say? "I never meant for you to hear all that."

"Obviously not," she says, stepping further into the room; she stands not too far away from me now, so close I can see the dark shadows of exhaustion and sickness under her eyes. "I know this isn't easy for you, pretending that everything is okay when it's not...but I thought you were at least happy for me about this."

"I was...I am," I say. I don't believe the words myself, so I know I'm not fooling Charlie, even though I am, in some ways, happy for her. "I'm happy that Brax makes you happy, that you love him enough to want to spend the rest of your life with him...But what would make me happier is if, instead of rushing into this wedding, you took the time to make sure that your life with him could be a long one."

"I'm not having the treatment Ruby," she says crossly. "I'm done, okay? I'm tired. It didn't work before, it's not going to miraculously work now."

"You don't know that!" I cry, but she holds up a hand to silence me.

"All I want is to spend my last few weeks on this earth with the people that I love, the ones who make me happy. Heck, I want to _be _happy, Ruby, and getting married to Brax with your blessing would make me happier than anything else could. Please..."

After a moment, I nod, still not completely okay with the whole thing. I can't shake the thought that all the wedding will be celebrating is the end of Charlie's life.

"I'm just going to miss you so much!" I exclaim, throwing my arms around her as the tears start falling from my eyes. She wraps her arms around me too, and suddenly there is another set of arms around the two of us: Leah's. Charlie must have invited her over; like the shopkeeper, I had forgotten Leah was even there.

"I know," Charlie says, and I can feel tears slipping from her eyes into my hair where she rests her chin. She sniffles, "I know...But you know what? Even when I'm gone, I'll still be here, in your memories, memories like this one, and the ones we'll make on my wedding day, when you're wearing that beautiful dress."

2 WEEKS LATER

**Brax's POV**:

Today is the day. I'm finally getting married to the love of my life. This day couldn't come soon enough, with Charlie's health deteriorating rapidly. As I tied my tie up on my suit I thought about how different my life would be if I hadn't met Charlie. I would still be the leader of the river boys; I quite possibly could've been in jail, or dead. Charlie had turned my life around and I will be forever grateful to her. I just wish that I could do more to help her. She was dying and there is nothing I can do about it. Thinking about that brought a tear to my eye. Shake it off Brax! Shake it off! Today is supposed to be a happy day. Today we are going to forget that Charlie has cancer.

Heath entering the room brought me out of my thoughts. I had asked him to be my best man, even though he hadn't been exactly welcoming to Charlie at the start of our relationship, he had come around quite a lot and he was quite helpful to me with Charlie spending so much time in hospital.

"You ready bro?" he asked "its just about time to go to the beach". Charlie and I had decided to have our wedding at the beach. A typical wedding in a chapel wasn't really our thing, too uptight. We both felt at home on the beach, so it felt right to be married there.

"Yeah mate I think so", glancing on last time in the mirror to make sure I looked okay before I headed towards the door.

"You look fine Brax!" heath laughed as he noticed me checking my appearances. "Now come on, or we're going to be late! Casey is waiting in the car for us!"


	14. Chapter 14

**Brax's POV**

I'm still confounded as to how the heck we managed to pull something this spectacular together in the space of a few weeks.

I am standing beneath a beautiful white and orange canopy, held up by 4 bamboo poles, almost on the water's edge. Elijah, Heath and Casey stand beside me – Elijah is presiding over the ceremony, and as for my best man, I couldn't decide between my two brothers.

"I feel ridiculous," I say under my breath to Casey, who just laughs. I've been uncomfortable in this tuxedo from the moment I put it on. "It's a hundred degrees in this thing."

"That's just your nerves," he says, fixing the collar of my shirt. "Just relax. The tux doesn't look that bad." That is not comforting in the least. I was about to argue and say that I'm not nervous, but the truth is, I suddenly realise, that I am. And I cannot say why. Maybe it's the thought that Charlie might change her mind and realise she could do so much better than me that keeps gnawing away at the back of my mind that's making me sweat through my stupid collared shirt.

I look out from under the canopy. People are starting to arrive. Charlie and I decided to keep the event small, inviting just our closest friends and family. Sets of 9 white chairs with orange (Charlie says they're some ridiculous colour like 'coral' or 'salmon'...I say they're orange) ribbons tied around them that match the canopy sit on either side of a makeshift aisle. The aisle is nothing but a trail of pink, yellow and orange flower petals along the white sand, although the orange petals are probably coral coloured too and I'm just too thick-headed to know the difference. I see Morag, Alf, Liam and Bianca, Irene and VJ, Roo, among others; more of Charlie's friends than mine of course. My own mother hasn't even shown up yet.

With that thought in mind I start to get a little frustrated, but then I see Ruby running from the dunes down the beach towards us. My breath catches as she approaches me and whispers, "She's here."

Elijah clears his throat as Ruby turns and runs off as quickly as she came. "Everyone, everyone, if you could please take your seats," Elijah says, "so the ceremony can begin." He turns to me and my brothers. "Boys, if you could stand over here..." He ushers us to the right of the canopy, while he stands in the centre, bible in hand. My pulse is racing, and now that everyone has stopped talking all I can hear is the sound of the ocean behind me and my heart beating 1000 times a minute.

"This is it bro," Casey says quietly to me. He and Heath stop in front of me before moving to take their places.

"Don't screw it up," Heath warns, and I can't help but laugh. Like I would ever risk this.

VJ stands off to the side to the left of the aisle, a stereo beside him. The moment Ruby comes into view once again, he hits the play button. The music starts playing, a waltz of slow strings and guitar, but it all fades into the background as the reality of what's happening hits me – I'm a few short minutes away from being married to the love of my life. Ruby reaches the canopy first, followed by Leah as the maid of honour.

And then, walking alongside her father, comes Charlie.

What a vision. My heart, which was racing only seconds before, stops completely. The whole world seems to melt away around her – suddenly she's the only thing in the existence that means anything to me. She's glowing brighter than the sun in her beautiful white wedding gown, that looks as though it was made especially for her. It feels like gravity is pulling us together as she comes closer and closer toward me – she's the sun at the centre of my universe. But she always has been, from the moment I met her.

In moments she is standing before me, more beautiful than anything I have ever laid eyes on before in my life. She can't stop smiling – it's the first time she's really smiled in a long, long time. I can't stop myself from smiling right back, and it's all because of her. I forget the silliness of my tuxedo, the orangeness of the coral canopy and chair ribbons, the fact that there are 18 or so other people around us; Elijah's words become a blur. All that matters in this moment is Charlie.

Before I know what has happened, Elijah is instructing me to say my vows.

I stare at Charlie, at a total loss. I've forgotten everything I've written down. All that I'd written no longer feels like it's enough to describe how I feel about her.

I laugh, finally breaking eye contact with her. "I had written something," I say. "But I ..." I clear my throat. I was always better at doing things in the spur of the moment.

"Charlie," I begin again. "Charlotte..." She giggles. "From almost the moment I met you, there has not been one thing in this world that I have wanted more than to be with you... and to be the reason you smile, because you are the reason that I smile. There are no words that can really tell you how much I love you or how much I care...just know that I can't imagine loving anyone or anything more than I love you. There's not a day that goes by that I am not thankful for having met you, and since that first day not a day has gone by when I have not thought of you. You are always on my mind, and you will always be in my heart. I will stand by you no matter what, I will be there to hold your hand and hold you whenever you cry – I will be by your side whenever you need me to be; you will never have to go through anything alone." I stop to wipe a tear away from her beautiful face. "Before today... meeting you and falling in love with you was the best thing that I have ever done, but now I can say that I have done better: I can say the best thing I ever did was marry the girl of my dreams. I will love you always and forever Charlie Buckton, in this life and all that comes after that."

"Charlie, your vows please," Elijah says.

"Brax...It took me longer than it should have to realise this, but you are my dream come true. You are my world, the joy in my heart, the laughter in my voice and the smile on my face. What we have is something special...When I look into your eyes, I can feel it in my heart and soul that you are the one that I was destined to be with. All roads have led me here, to you and to this moment, I am happier than I have ever been just standing here with you today. You are my best friend, my everything...You are where my heart is, and you always will be. You are the reason I believe in love, and for that I will always love you..." She stops, looks away and sniffles, trying to hold back more tears. "...for all the days of my life."

"Who brings this woman to marry this man?" Elijah asks, and Charlie's father steps forward. I had completely forgotten that there was anyone else here other than Charlie and myself. I was so lost in Charlie's beautiful words.

"I do," he says. He hugs his daughter quickly, before taking his seat in the front row beside Morag.

"May we have the rings please?" Elijah asks, and Casey and Ruby both step forward, each holding one ring. Casey hands his to me, and Ruby hands hers to Charlie.

I take Charlie's hand in mine. "Charlotte Buckton; with this ring I thee wed. Take it and wear it as a symbol of all we shall share."

Charlie takes my hand in hers. "Darryl Braxton; with this ring I thee wed. Take it and wear it as a symbol of all we shall share."

With our hands now fasted together, Elijah speaks again. "Love is always patient and kind. It is never jealous. Love is never boastful or conceited, it is never rude or selfish, it does not take offense and is not resentful. Love takes no pleasure in other people's faults, but delights in the truth. It is always ready to excuse, to trust, to hope. It is always ready to endure whatever comes. True love does not come to an end. You have declared before all of us that you will live together in marriage. You have made special promises to each other, which have been symbolized by the joining of hands, taking of vows and the giving and receiving of two rings. By the authority vested in me as a Minister, I now pronounce you to be husband and wife. You may now kiss the bride."

And it's over. I wrap my arms around Charlie's back, and she reaches up and encircles my shoulders, and we are locked in a moment of pure, amazing bliss. Never have I felt as close to her as I do now; I can feel her heart beating against mine, taste her on my lips. We are essentially one being, as Elijah says, "Ladies and Gentlemen, please join me in welcoming Mr and Mrs Braxton."

**Brax's POV:**

I walked into Angelo's with Charlie, for our reception. I still couldn't get over the fact that she was my wife, that I was her husband. I had now become the happiest man in the world.

I glanced around at all our friends cheering as we walked through. Finally, my gaze stopped at Charlie. She looked absolutely stunning. How did I end up so lucky?

After a few minutes of staring at her, Charlie turned to me and smiled. "I love you," I mouthed to her, which made her smile dramatically increase, before reaching up to kiss me. Coming out of the kiss she whispered, "I love you too" into my ear.

We ended our embrace to greet our guests. "Thank you all for coming on this special day of ours. It means the world to us that our family and close friends can be with us to celebrate our love. We would especially like to…" Hearing the rumble of footsteps coming up the stairs cut me off. I turned around to see some of the river boys clearly drunk, pounding into Angelo's.

"Well isn't this cozy?" asked Brodie with a smug smile on his face. I could not believe it. Of all the times for them to show up again in the bay it had to be today, it had to be right now. "what do you want Brodie?" I ask, while slowly moving Charlie behind me to protect her from whatever they had planned.

"oh we just wanted to congratulate the happy couple of course! A dog and a pig; how sweet" Riley snickered from next to Brodie.

I was starting to get quite angry. How dare they come here today and try and ruin this day.

"I think it's time that you left" I said with a slightly angry tone, whilst at the same time trying to keep my cool. I didn't want to lose it; not today.

"But the party is just getting started Brax, and I can't believe we, your 'Family' didn't get invited! After all we've done for you!" he scoffed. "the least you can do is let us have a few drinks on the house!" with that they began to barge past Charlie and i. Charlie not being strong enough to withstand them, she fell to the floor. I turned to make sure she was okay, helping her up, before turning to Brodie, and punching him square on the face. Before long an all out brawl had begun, with Heath, Casey and Liam fighting.

**Bianca's POV:**

I could not believe how the day had gone from being so perfect to this. I gazed around to all of the guests, who were astounded. Ruby was hysterical sitting in the corner, with Leah trying to calm her down, VJ sitting with them, much more interested in the fight than Ruby, I continued around to see Morag sitting at the bar simply shaking her head, before continuing to drink her cocktail, clearly not too phased with the recent events. Gradually my gaze fell on Charlie. She did not look well. She looked very frantic, breathing shallow and fast, she looked like she was trying to speak, but she couldn't quite make out a word. I quickly made my way over to her, sensing that she needed help. When I got to her I realized that she was in a very bad way, the stress of the fight was getting to her. She needed to go to the hospital now before it got any worse; if only I could get the men to stop fighting.

"BRAX! BRAX!" I yelled, hoping that he would pay attention to me. Unfortunately, he was to busy beating on Brodie to register that I was yelling for him. I turned back to Charlie to check on her. She was getting paler and paler, I could see her eyes rolLing back into her head, slowly closing, before she collapsed on the floor. I rushed to her side, and checked if she was still breathing. It was weak, but it was there. She needed to go to the hospital now!

"SOMEONE CALL AN AMBULANCE!" I yelled, luckily Morag already had her phone out dialing 000.

"BRAX! BRAX! CHARLIE'S UNCONSCIOUS!"


	15. Chapter 15

_**Hey guys we are so so so sorry that we haven't updated in months, we really suck. We've just been so busy with uni and work and we hardly find the time to see each oher. Hope you enjoy this chapter, please review, and we'll try to upload more often xx**_

"_BRAX! BRAX! CHARLIE'S UNCONSCIOUS"_

BRAX's POV:

In that moment time just seemed to stop. I heard Bianca screaming and I immediately stopped fighting with Brodie, giving him a hard enough punch to knock him unconscious, and focussed my attention on Charlie. I ran to her side and grabbed hold of her hand.

"Charlie? Charlie? Please wake up!" a stray tear began to roll down my cheek. "Please don't do this to me Charlie! Please".

Before long the ambulance arrived and Charlie was taken to hospital. I rode with her, as the paramedics attempted to stabilise her. I can't believe this is happening today of all days.

We get to the hospital and as Charlie is wheeled away from me I begin to breakdown. I lean against the wall and slide down to the ground, put my head in my knees and start crying. All that is going through my head is that Charlie can't die, I can't live without her.

BIANCA's POV:

We rushed into the hospital not long after the ambulance brought Charlie in. AS we walked in we saw Brax on the floor. He was a mess. I couldn't think of how hard it would be for him. If it were me, I would not cope at all. We ran towards him to see if he had any news.

"Brax, Brax, have you heard anything?" he said nothing, just shook his head, not even lifting up his head to acknowledge us being here. Ruby sat down next to him and he wrapped his arm around her and they began to cry together.

"we should give them some space" I whispered into Heath's ear, he nodded and we walked off to get a coffee and wait for some answers.

BRAX's POV:

Ruby and I had finally calmed down a little, just sitting in the waiting room, waiting for news, when Sid walked down the corridor towards us. We jumped up out of the chairs and ran towards him.

SID's POV:

The nurses and I were barely able to get Charlie's breathing under control, but fortunately we were able to stabilise her.

"We just weren't fast enough," I say to Brax, filling him in on everything that happened in the emergency room.

"What?" he says, and I can hear the sadness in his voice. Poor guy, this was supposed to be the happiest day of his life and now it's turned into one of the worst. "But you said that you'd gotten everything under control!" His eyes are bloodshot from trying to hold back the tears; I can see them welling up now. He points an accusatory finger at me, as if I have lied to him, as if I have caused all of this. I see this kind of reaction almost every day at the hospital, but it's especially hard to deal with when it's coming from people you know and love."You said – "

"What I said was that we had managed to stabilise Charlie," I remind him. "Unfortunately that was only possible by connecting her to a machine that is now breathing for her."

"You mean she's not breathing?" Ruby asks, crying beside Brax.

"She is breathing, but without the aid of the machine she would not be." They say nothing in response to this, so I continue. "It seems that the cancer has spread faster than we anticipated it would. The ones in her lungs are particularly troublesome, and scans have revealed that they have even spread to an area of her brain, which has caused her to go into a coma. There's no telling when or if she might wake up from it."

Brax snaps. "You told us we had months until it got to this point!" he shouts, and people walking by stop and stare for a moment. "You said there was still time for us to have a life together!" He gets right up in my face, staring intensely down at me, exhaling harsh, hot breaths. I hold my ground – this is all part of the job description.

"I know I did Brax," I say as calmly as possible. "But sometimes these things are difficult to predict. And you need to calm down. This is not helping anybody." I direct his attention to Ruby, who is crying uncontrollably. Uncharacteristically, Morag is there, hugging her, attempting to console her. Morag gives Brax a spiteful look as he turns around, and a moment later he steps away from me.

"I'm sorry Doc," he says, looking up at the ceiling, using his arm to wipe away the tears from his eyes. More quietly he says, "I just thought we would have more time together than this..."

I sigh. I pull Brax aside, away from the others, realising that he is losing hope.

"Brax, you should not give up," I say to him. "There are options."

"What, you mean like another operation?" he asks.

"Another treatment. Intense radiation. We can't operate, it would be too risky particularly with the tumours on her brain. But radiation would be the normal course of action to those open to it."

"But Charlie said she didn't want any further treatment."

"Yes, but you are her next of kin now. As her husband you have the legal right to make decisions that are medically in her best interests when she is physically or psychologically incapable of making them herself."

"What are you saying doc?" he asks.

"The chemotherapy was unsuccessful, yes, but this radiation treatment has shown promise in recent studies. Lots of people have recovered from situations that were as dire or worse than Charlie's. I know Charlie said she didn't want any further treatment, but that was then, and this is now. You have a decision to make Brax – respect her wishes, or go against them, and potentially save her life."


End file.
